


Salvation

by Cat_Moon



Series: Half Breed [3]
Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 05:04:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/948947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Josef's turn, and boy does he have some 'spaining to do!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salvation

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of the series, "Half Breed." As such, it's a good idea to read them in order. One follows from the other in what happens; they aren't stand-alone stories and you may not understand what's going on if you read out of order.

The cynical among us don't believe in miracles. Even when faced with one, we can easily come up with all sorts of rational explanations. I used to think I was the king of cynics (well, next to Josef that is), but lately I've had to revise that opinion of myself. Holding Beth in my arms, making love to her… coming face to face with my own miracle, I can no longer doubt their existence.

I figure this is either the beginning of my salvation, or my final damnation.

XXX

It was early in the morning. Mick had managed to grab a couple of hours in the freezer, so he was feeling relatively rested despite it being a time of day vampires normally didn't much care for. It was one of the perks of being a vamp he actually didn't mind; unlike humans they didn't need the standard six to eight hours of sleep every night. Two or three was enough – provided it was in the freezer. It gave him more flexibility to associate with the humans during the day, and also roam the night as was his preference.

It was with yet another jolt of wonder that he had taken in Beth's whispered words just before she drifted off to sleep…

_In my arms._

"It's okay if you need to go get some sleep in the freezer," she'd told him.

Would she ever stop amazing him with her genuine acceptance, her unconditional love? Just when he thought she couldn't surprise him anymore, she found a way.

Morning routine for a vampire was a bit different from a human's, but it still involved things like showering, dressing, getting breakfast. Mick had just left the freezer and was contemplating whether he was in the mood for 'decaf' or 'regular' (glass or needle) when he heard the noise downstairs. He was a bit annoyed but not alarmed, as he knew the visitor. He came down the stairs to meet Josef in the living room.

His friend was pointedly holding up a piece of the clothing that was strewn about the floor. And giving Mick that look, the infuriating, knowing one he'd perfected.

"Very nice," he said drolly, eyes taking in Mick's attire of a pair of pajama bottoms. "Modesty after debauchery. It's so you."

Mick wasn't sure why, but he felt embarrassed at being 'caught' so to speak. "You know, when I asked you to come over, I didn't mean this early."

"What, and miss this?" he picked up another piece, this time Beth's blouse. "Not on your life."

"No lectures," Mick hissed, snatching the garment.

At that moment Beth started down, dressed in just his shirt. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't help the possessive look he knew was on his face. There was something about seeing her wearing his shirt that stirred intense feelings in him, had even before they were lovers.

 _We're lovers._ Delighted and amazed at the thought, he grinned goofily. Josef of course, missed nothing, his shrewd eyes taking in every minute detail. Mick didn't bother to wonder what he was thinking; knew he'd find out soon enough.

Beth met him at the bottom and unselfconsciously kissed him on the lips. "Morning," she purred, then looked at the other vampire. "Good morning, Josef."

"Nice to see you again, Beth." He wiggled his eyebrows at Mick behind her back, as she headed for the kitchen. Mick pointed a warning finger at him.

Mick hastily gathered up the abandoned clothing and deposited it on the chair. Then they both trailed Beth to the kitchen, where she had started coffee and was taking some fruit out of the refrigerator.

"I've always wanted to ask you why you keep fruit in the kitchen," she said, biting into an apple. "Or maybe I don't want to know," she revised, but her eyes were twinkling at him.

"There's something you don't want to know?!" he asked in mock astonishment… that turned into the real thing when she oh-so-casually got out the blood, poured it into a glass and handed it to him. He opened his mouth to protest.

She gave him a look of her own. "Get over it." She turned to Josef. "Can I offer you something?"

Faster than lightning, Mick had moved himself between them, holding up his hands a little wildly. "No! He doesn't need anything, he's fine."

Beth looked confused; Josef did something Mick didn't ever remember him doing: he laughed outright, loudly. Her confusion faded into embarrassment when she realized how her "offer" could sound to a vampire. Then it turned to a ruefully amused look that she shared with Josef.

"Who are you?" Mick asked her.

She was still smiling as she met his eyes, but the emotion there was so strong he could hear it as clearly as spoken words. _Your soul mate._

Josef was still watching everything, a bit too intently for Mick's comfort. "I assume there's a reason you called me here?"

"Uh, yeah," Mick answered, turning back to Beth. "Why don't you go upstairs and get dressed, then we can sit down and talk."

"Okay, be right back." She gathered up the clothing Mick had placed on the chair and went upstairs.

There was a moment of silence that Mick knew would be short lived.

"That one rushes in where angels fear to tread, doesn't she?" Josef commented.

"You have no idea," Mick told him with feeling.

His voice hardened. "Give her an education."

"I am."

"She needs a crash course."

"I know that."

XXX

"Okay, Nick and Nora, what's this about?" Josef quipped when they were all seated in the living room a short time later.

"It's about Coraline," Mick told him without preamble.

"Don't tell me you're still obsessed with her," he said, pointedly glancing at Beth.

"No, but she's still obsessed with me."

Beth picked up the conversation. "We have proof that Morgan is Coraline. She's back, and we need to find out what her agenda is."

"Destroying Mick. And if anyone can do it, she can."

"I don't intend to let that happen," Beth told him, with a hint of steel in her voice.

"Wait a minute…" Mick began. Something in Josef's tone had set off alarms in his mind. "You're not protesting at all, for a man who insisted Morgan couldn't be her?"

"Well, if you have proof, you have proof." His voice though, was totally unconvincing.

Mick shook his head. "What aren't you telling me, Josef?" His own voice held more than a hint of menace.

The older vampire took a deep breath, then swallowed. "I know," he said quietly but clearly. "I knew."

Mick felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. He started to rise, but Beth's hand on his arm stopped him. "You set me up!"

"It wasn't like that," he denied.

"Then tell me how it was!"

"What was I supposed to do? No offense, but you were way off your game, my friend. Out of your head. I've seen you with her, too many times, remember? All right, you want honesty? I thought you'd screw it up!"

"So you called my—Aldo, because you figured he's the only other person qualified to handle things," Beth interjected, taking one of the giant leaps of deduction that made her an excellent investigative reporter. They both looked at her in surprise. "What? Aldo said he 'heard' about Coraline, Josef admitted knowing, just two plus two."

"Don't overestimate him, Beth, he was just out to protect his own ass," Mick said, still reeling from his friend's betrayal.

"Oh, that's nice."

"Stop it, both of you!" She gave Mick a significant look. "Sometimes the people who care about us keep things from us for awhile, for our own good. Sucks to be on the other side, doesn't it? No pun intended."

Mick got up and walked away from them. Even with the tinted glass it was too bright to be staring out the window, so he found the view of his bookcase fascinating instead. And Beth wondered why he longed to have a normal life? It's a giant thrill ride that never ends. But not in a good way.

"I didn't know it was Coraline until I saw her in person… even then, I couldn't believe it. Then I started thinking about the rumors, and I started wondering… I've known Aldo for a hundred years." Beth's eyes widened at that. "I knew Beth was a half breed."

Mick turned to give him glare at the term used, that if looks could really kill would have finished him on the spot. "You're a bastard," he said, as if he was convinced of it but still couldn't quite believe it.

Josef jumped up. "I'm your friend!"

"Is that what you call it?" Mick sneered at him, feeling his vampire side coming closer to the surface. The fact that this was Josef causing it stabbed at him like a knife. Josef of course, would be completely composed, right up until the time he ripped Mick's throat out.

"Let him explain," Beth implored.

Mick sat down beside her again, folding his arms across his chest. "Oh, he has a lot of 'splaining to do."

"You can be pissed at me all you want, Lucy, but I made a judgment call. And I still believe it was the right one."

"Okay, I got the Lucy/Ricky reference, but I have no idea who Nick and Nora are?" Beth said.

They both glared at her.

She held up her hands in surrender, and settled back into the cushions of the couch. "Okay, I'll just sit here and let you two fight it out. I'll referee."

"Okay, let's start at the beginning, Josef. You knew who (read: what) Beth was all along. You kept that info from me, why?"

Josef met his eyes candidly. "Same reasons I warned you to stay away from her. I was hoping it would never come to this. You put yourself – Beth – and all of us, in danger when you started sniffing around her like a dog in heat."

Mick would have leap up off the couch if Beth hadn't all but sat on him to restrain him. Too much truth in Josef's words, guilt fueled his anger and turned it outwards.

"Stop baiting him!" Beth yelled at Josef.

"I'm not, I'm just telling it like it is," he returned.

"It's not like that," Mick snarled, "and I'm so fucking sorry for you that you're too jaded and out of touch with humanity to ever experience this kind of love for yourself!"

"So dramatic," Josef muttered, but low, obviously not wanting to provoke Mick further after all.

Beth did some more glaring of her own at Josef. "The thing you didn't realize is the extent of the connection between me and Mick. It wasn't him entering my life that was the catalyst. I am. His being in my life is what will save us all."

"You don't even know why you're the catalyst, do you?" Josef inquired.

Mick abruptly slumped back into the couch, all the fight leaving him in a rush, leaving him feeling weak. What was the point? Life did whatever it damn well pleased, no matter how he tried to keep things from imploding.

"It's because I'm a…a half breed. Right?"

"Listen, Beth, I'm gonna give it to you straight out, because that's my style and I'm not gonna sugar coat anything. You ready for it?"

"Bring it on," she responded.

"Good." He nodded his head in approval. "Half breed's hold a certain…attraction for some vampires. It's in the blood. Most of them don't even know why, since the very existence of HB's is pretty much accepted as a vampire urban legend. We try to keep it that way, to protect them. "

"Protect them from what?"

"Lots of things," he hedged. "And if you've been wondering why Coraline chose you to kidnap, that's probably why. Out of all the children on the playground, it's you she would have been most drawn to, without knowing why."

Mick listened to them talk, his eyes closed in defeat. Now she would figure out what he'd been terrified of since talking to Aldo; that their connection was nothing more than vampire chemistry. Not real. So much for my miracle, he thought, knowing that he'd still protect her till the end of time if necessary.

"This…connection. Does it include feeling like you've known them forever, and sensing each other's presence and feelings, and hearing voices?"

"No," he answered, surprise coloring his voice.

Mick finally opened his eyes again, lifting his head to look at her. "Voices?"

"I figured, Coraline is dead, Aldo's gone, and life goes back to normal and all our secrets are safe. Mick still keeps tabs on you, okay, no big deal. Maybe even a good idea, all things considered. Then he starts…dating you," he phrased the sentence carefully, with a wry twist to his mouth. "Big problem. Then the presumed dead Coraline shows up, bigger problem. That's way too much attention to things that should be left alone."

"What if Coraline knew why, back then too?" Mick asked him.

"Doubtful. She never would've stayed away this long."

"So what's so special about us? I mean, besides the extra attraction? Do we taste better or something?" She looked at Mick, who almost groaned.

"Do they?" Josef asked Mick.

"Don't you know?" Mick countered.

"No, or I wouldn't be asking."

"I'm missing something here," Beth said looking between the two of them.

"Morgan Vincent. Does that ring any bells for you?" Mick asked.

"Vincent… let me make a quick call." He pulled out his phone and punched in a number. "Hey Lila, sweetheart. Yeah, me too. Listen, I want to ask you a quick question, okay? Why? Because you know everybody, darling." He laughed intimately. "Ever heard of anyone named Vincent," he looked at Mick.

"Bob," Beth answered the unspoken question.

"Bob, or Robert Vincent. " He listened; face giving nothing away as usual. "Ok, thanks love. Yeah, I owe you; you can come by and collect next time you're in town."

He put the phone away and looked at Mick. "What a coincidence."

"It's true," Mick whispered.

Finally Beth had had enough of the exchange. "One of you better explain to me what that was all about."

"If her father was Robert Vincent, Morgan was most probably a half breed. It could be another Robert Vincent, but--"

"There are no coincidences in my life," Mick finished for him.

"Was?" Beth asked.

"I think it's safe to assume she's dead at this point," Josef confirmed.

"So Coraline killed her."

"She used her for the cure," Mick forced out, wanting the agonizing scene to be over and done with.

"That's just speculation on our parts," Josef quickly pointed out.

A look of total horror dawned on Beth's features. "It's our blood," she realized. "I'm the cure…" Before either man could react, she'd leaped up and bolted out of the door.

XXX

Mick caught up with her as she reached the elevator. "Beth!"

He grabbed her arms to halt her progress. Beth twisted to try and break his grasp, and ended up on her knees with him kneeling beside her, holding onto her.

"Beth, please wait!"

"Oh my god," she was whispering, "oh my god…"

God has nothing to do with this, he thought grimly. "It'll be okay," he told her. "It's okay."

"No it's not. You could have the cure, you could be human again. I know how much you want that." She turned wet eyes up to his. "I would give you that. My life for yours."

"No!" he denied. "I would never pay that price." He felt tears of his own welling up. How deep this love, when she would offer up her own life, to give him back his human life? "Never! Not like that. Listen to me, it's not worth it, you're worth more to me than anything, even that."

"I'm so sorry…"

"We don't know it for sure, we're just guessing. " But of course it was a good guess. To affect a cure like that, turning vampire into human, would surely take more than a pint or two.

"I thought we were destined to be together, that this is the way it was meant to be, but now to know that fate is so cruel and taunting, to do this to us…"

The echo of Mick's own previous thoughts on the subject left a really bad taste in his mouth; coming from Beth's lips it was so horrible it made him silently vow to do whatever it took to make her understand the truth he was only just coming to realize himself. Josef was right all along, and now Mick was causing someone else pain with his inability to accept himself. The one person he couldn't allow himself to hurt in any way.

"I don't want to be human!" he said loudly, to break through her misery. It worked; she stilled and stared at him. "Fate knows what it's doing," he confirmed, a rueful smile hinting at his lips. "Don't doubt us now, after everything that's happened." It was working, she was listening. He removed his hands from her arms and cradled her face. "You're half vampire, and I'm a vampire. It's who we are, and I was wrong to keep wishing for something I couldn't have." His voice lowered, full of emotion. "I have you in my life. For that, I'm grateful to Coraline for turning me."

"Hallelujah," she murmured, laughing and crying both. "And the angels sang."

He looked at her with a quizzical smile at her odd words, then kissed her soundly. He couldn't help feeling stunned at the turn of events. Seemed like he'd found quite a few reasons to be happy with his vampirism. Not the least of which, he could never protect Beth as well as a human. That had always been, and would always remain, his number one priority in life. Or death.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," he murmured, lips returning to hers for another, long taste.

"Would you two get a room already?"

They turned as one towards the voice. Josef lounged in the open door, arms crossed, smirk on his face.

Mick looked at Beth again. "We do have a room, don't we?"

She smiled. "Yes, we do."

He inclined his head toward it. "Then let's go."

He helped her up, and they made their way back to the apartment. "Excellent suggestion, Josef," he told him as he passed.

"Oh gawd." He rolled his eyes. "I guess this is where I came in."

"We'll call you later."

"Was our conversation over?" But the door was closed, and he was on the outside of it. "Guess so." He headed for the elevator. "Yuck. I'm going home and wash the taste of all this love out of my mouth. Maybe a good '88 A positive," he told the empty elevator, and pressed the "down" button.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door…

"Finally alone," Mick said, holding her loosely in the circle of his arms.

"I thought he'd never leave," she agreed with a blinding smile. "Did you really mean what you said?"

He pulled her in close, relishing the feel of her body pressed to his. He thought about fate, and miracles, and destiny. About how he would most probably never have known her. When she was born he would have been a human in his 60's. In the present, a frail 85 if still alive, totally ignorant of the reality of vampires – and totally unable to help or protect her when she needed someone. Was his undead life so horrible? Right now, holding her in his arms where she belonged, he knew the answer to that was, hell no! And if he held a vial of a cure in his hands at this moment, that could transform him back into a human man, even if no one had died to provide it, he would smash it into a million pieces before he'd betray Beth by using it.

"I'm the luckiest man – and the luckiest vampire -- in the world."

"And don't you forget it," she teased with a smile, but her gaze on him was serious.

He started backing her towards the stairs. "Remind me – why did I tell you to get dressed again?"

"Because you're an old fashioned gentleman, and we had company."

"Ah, that was the problem."

"That you're too old fashioned?"

"No, company."

She giggled like a schoolgirl. Mick decided he liked the sound, and wanted to hear more of it. But later…much later. They were at the stairs now, so they broke apart to go up, but she took his hand in hers as they climbed.

This time they waited till they were inside the bedroom to start removing clothes. Stopping by the bed, Mick suddenly burst out with a laugh.

"What?" she queried.

He gestured to the mattress. "This bed's never seen this much action…any action for that matter," he admitted.

"It ain't seen nothing yet," she promised, starting to remove her clothes.

He took off the shirt he'd donned earlier, but when his hands went to the pajama bottoms she stopped him.

"Not yet."

All he could do was watch, transfixed, as her clothing came off piece by piece, and was tossed casually onto the chair by the bed.

Maybe I need to pinch myself, make sure I'm not dreaming.

When the last of the clothing was gone, she took the small step necessary to bring their bodies into contact. "I love silk," she murmured, sliding herself against the material. Then she knelt down, placing a kiss against his hardness through the material.

Whoa. His eyes flew closed and he swayed on his feet. Part of his mind that was by some miracle still working had to be proud of how much self control he'd been able to exert, both last night and now. Considering how long it had been since he'd had a touch like this, which was a miracle in itself.

While she was down there, her hands came up and slowly drew the material down his legs. She looked up at him, and he almost lost it right there at the expression on her face. He roughly pulled her back up, and caught her mouth in a long, thorough kiss, maneuvering them down to the bed while she was occupied.

"So old fashioned," she teased, as his hands caressed her skin reverently. "We'll work on that."

He kissed the skin at the side of her neck, her ear, tongue coming out to taste her. His hands slid behind her back, pressing them closer together.

She shivered as pleasure danced across her skin where his touched. "I've been meaning to ask you… we've never, I mean, is… biting ever involved?"

He raised his head and gazed at her for a moment. "Sometimes," he admitted. "Yeah."

She caressed his face. "We can, you know. I'm okay with that."

"Maybe, sometime. I don't… want it that way now." He was surprised to find it was true. He wanted nothing more than to make love to this woman as a man makes love to the love of his life. No more, no less. He still vividly remembered how it had felt to feed on her, that day in the desert. The indescribable feeling of knowing it was Beth, his Beth, whose sacrifice was saving his life. It wasn't just sex, bloodlust, or survival; it was a bonding of their souls together. He had no desire to take her with the casualness that Josef took lunch from his freshies.

Embarrassed by his thoughts, Mick picked up her arm and kissed the spot of the marks he'd made, enjoying her shudder at the contact. "Later," he promised, knowing with a flash of insight that she'd want it, even as he wasn't comfortable giving it to her. She wanted all of him, everything with nothing held back. The good – and the bad. He would, of course. He could deny this woman nothing.

"Now, where were we?" he asked with a sultry smile, continuing to kiss up her arm to the shoulder, giving the neck a promising caress of tongue. He worshipped her body, trying to show her how much she meant to him without words. He watched her face, monitored her body's reactions, basking in the heady knowledge that it was him wringing these responses from her, and no one else. Ignoring the burning need to concentrate on her pleasure until he'd explored every inch of her, imprinting her on every fiber of his being. Until, finally, she was begging him. And when she did, he took pity in her (and himself!), and slid into her welcoming warmth.

As they rocked together gently, he whispered all the things that he'd once vowed never to tell her. They poured out of him like a dam bursting. I love you. I need you. I'll do anything you want. I want to be with you forever. You're right, there's no space between us, there never was. On it continued, with her encouraging him. Until the sounds she was making short circuited his ability to form words, and they tumbled over the cliff together.

"Forever," was the last thing he heard her say before drifting into an exhausted sleep. He lost consciousness himself before he could process of implications of her whispered vow.

end

**Author's Note:**

> Nick and Nora were the married couple in the "Thin Man" movies. He was a detective and she got involved with his cases. They were known for the "witty banter" between them.


End file.
